The Sedalia weekly bazoo. [volume] (Sedalia, Mo.) 187?-1904, 1887-03-22

second and third of those which went into
the chasn. Car "a lies in a heap of
, splinters with sides and roof broken In.
The stove did not break from Its fasteuings
but was broken above the CRATE The Are,
however, was extinguished. Car No. so
lies partly on car No. 81, unrOOfed, aud
/ with every seat gone. Several Of the killed
and wounded persons were taken from
this car. The stove belonging 10 this car
remained firmly fixed and no fire escaped.
Car No. 81 is practically demolished,
while car No. % lies almost intact upon
the ruins
MANY PERSONS WERE INJURED
in these cars and but few were killed.
Back ef them is the upturned wreck of the
smoking car, only corner OF which re-
mains The. car whirled upside down and
| fell from the embankment Scarcely any
of its occupants escaped Injury, and PO-
liceman Labor and one or two others
were killed The bridge where the acct
dent occurred was built in July, 1876
il was l04 feet in length and twenty feet
in height, and spanned the road, resting
on heavy stone wall. The grade of the
road is very heavy, and there Is sharp
curve where the bridge crosses the high
way. The latter runs diagonally under the
bridge. and the sbutnents, upon which the
structure rests, are set at a sharp angle.
The bridge was designed for n double
truck, but only a single track eros Is it now
and the
EXPERTS CANNOT UNDERSTAND
how both trusses were carried down when
thu bearing comes On one.
Mr.. vi tnly, "f the city engineers office,
made careful inspection of the bridge
SON after il had fallen. He Saii there
was no apparent reason for its giving away
or for the breaking of the iron work Ii
seemed as il some force had drawn il tor
ward and thrown IL from its bearings.
Mr.. Davis, of the Boston & Providence
raIlS ay, considered one OF the best RAILROAD
men in the country, expressed similar
opinion
A Mr.. Biaisdeil, who vas crIssing from
the first To tn second car just
rs the train struck the bridge,
says he observed broken Journal hang
ing down, this would account Tor carrying
the whole bridge off the abutments.
A big i,w has been founG near the end
of a twelve inch truss viii IN rests a few
lee, above the debris. IL shows diego
nal fracture of the iron twelve inches
long of which eight inches is black with
rust while the rest of the fracture is
fresh.
THE FIRST SIGN OF VIOLENCE
to the cars is upon the wood work of the
second truck of the hrst car. \ violent
blow from underneath fractured a mo
inch timber, the frame work OF the truck
midway between the rails and between the
two axles. The blow lifted the truck
from the track and derailed the car. En-
gineer White says that in going aWOSs the
bridge he felt shock which he thought
might have been caused by broken axle
this, however, could not possibly have been |
the first cause of the accident for the tucks |
OF the first two cars are in good coalition |
except as regards the point above mention |
ed. The only remaining possible canse |
is
BROKEN RAILS.
Ii is doubtful III any examination on |
this point would result satisfactorily for |
there are many of them twisted and brok- |
en-
The scene at the bridge shortly after the /
disaster WAS heartrending, in one place |
seven bodies were taken out, and placed in a |
room all badly mangled. A large number
of women were on the train and many
were to be seen in the ruins. one woman /
was cut completely in two, the upper half
only being found Two men who were
saved had their faces hacked and the lips |
of one were cut off.
1t has been impossible TO obtain a correct
and complete list of the killed and
wounded, owing to the fact that immedi-
ately after the catastrophe occurred, its
victims were hastily removed from the
scene, and in such widely diverse directions
that il is extremely difficult to trace them
correctly. Some of the injured were at
once conveyed to their homes, others
were taken TO the hospitals,
while others still found temporary
shelter In the immediate neigh
borhood some Of the dead-a great many
of them in fsct-were brought to the city
hospital morgue, but there were Others
t. ken TO the depot of Roslindale, Forest
Hills and Canterbury Agents of the
railroad company are now diligently at
work endeavOring 10 complete the
STATISTICS OF THE CALAMITY
and full list of the casualties will
doubtless be furnished at the earliest prac-
teal moment, All day a large corps of
surgeons has been at work attending to the
injured who are more numerous than was
at first reported. it now being
estimated that nearly seventy persons re-
ceived severe wounds, of these,
il is said that number will probably die
A curious feature OF the disaster is found
in the fact that the entire bridge went
down with the wreck But for the chasm
and the awful wreck beneath there was
nothing to indicate that a bridge lad
spanned the abyss Additional evidences
were found of the terrible
late hour as the work of removing the
There was blood over everything. Most
of the pieces of clothing found were from
fragments of women, and the fatality